11/28/2014

Plenty of people have switched to smartphones for their photography needs, but that doesn't mean standalone cameras are dead just yet. Companies like Fuji, Canon and Olympus continue to make great DSLRs and interchangeable lens cameras for photograph...

Gov. Rick Scott will hold on to his job in Florida, NPR projects, as the Republican narrowly defeats Charlie Crist, the former GOP governor who was running as a Democrat.

Earlier, Arkansas voters elected Asa Hutchinson as their new governor.

We'll update this post with other gubernatorial race results, particularly in contests that are expected to be close. You can also follow our special coverage at NPR's Election Party.

Update at 1:10 a.m. ET: Quinn Loses; More Results

In Illinois, Republican Bruce Rauner is projected to beat Democrat Pat Quinn, with the margin of victory 51 percent to 46 percent. But as member station WBEZ reports, Quinn said he won't concede, noting the votes remaining to be tallied.

Massachusetts filled its open seat in the governor's office with Republican Charlie Baker, handing Democrat Martha Coakley a narrow loss.

10/18/2014

Fitbit recalled its Force wearable back in February after owners reported skin irritation, but after an investigation, says it will not do the same for the Fitbit Flex. The New York Times reports that the company and the Consumer Product Safety...

09/02/2014

It's time. This week NFL football is back (and so are the Engadget HD Podcast fantasy leagues), and the season kicks off Thursday night as the Packers face the defending Super Bowl Champion Seahawks on NBC. Boardwalk Empire on HBO starts its final...

08/02/2014

If I had to name one food that defined my childhood it would have to be astronaut ice cream. I can still remember getting it from the gift shop at the Minnesota Science Museum in the late 1980s and thinking that it was absolutely the coolest thing in the world. Look Mom, I'm eating just like an astronaut!

04/15/2014

While some scientists fritter away their time searching for extraterrestrial life, two astronomers have performed a genuine public service for Earth by calculating the likely number of nearby planets inhabited by the undead.

04/14/2014

Microsoft Office for iPad is a pretty full featured product – now it's finally here – but it turns out it has no native printing functionality. However, that won't be forever. In 2014 printing documents onto paper may feel antiquated, but for many regular Office users it's all part of the experience. And according to PCWorld, Office for iPad will get this and more in future updates:

When asked for comment, Microsoft representatives implied that printing would be added in the future—and that printing was perhaps not all that common for iPad users.

“Office for iPad was designed from the ground up for the iPad and for the productivity scenarios that an iPad is well suited for,” the company said in a statement. “For example, delivering a PowerPoint presentation, reviewing and annotating a Word document or making changes to a financial analysis in Excel."

PCWorld goes on to highlight that many of the early reviews of Office for iPad didn't even notice the lack of printing. Speaking personally, I can't remember the last time I even turned my printer on. It's sat gathering dust.

So if you're missing it, you'll get it at some point. And that's good to know. Are you one of those people?

11/21/2013

Microsoft made a big deal of building 3D printer support into Windows 8.1, and today it's releasing a tool that lets even newcomers create objects of their own. The new 3D Builder app includes a catalog of pre-designed items that virtually anyone can start printing right away. Especially curious users can adjust and combine objects without having to be a CAD expert, and those with access to more advanced tools can import their masterpieces. As long as you've already shelled out for the requisite printer, you can try 3D Builder for yourself at the source link.

How much is Snapchat worth? It's clear its founders think the answer is more than $3 billion. The ephemeral photo-texting service rejected a buyout offer from Facebook, and not long after that news broke, Snapchat got implicated in a child pornography investigation in Canada. Meanwhile, HealthCare.gov's tech woes were the focus of a House Oversight panel investigation, and a separate House panel released documents showing the July warnings that things weren't looking good, preparation-wise. IT procurement is getting more love and attention from Washington figures, so earlier in the week we featured a handful examples of government IT projects that actually worked.

Stanford University scientists have created a silicon-based water splitter that is both low-cost and corrosion-free. The novel device a silicon semiconductor coated in an ultrathin layer of nickel could help pave the way for large-scale production of clean hydrogen fuel from sunlight, according to the scientists. Their results are published in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Science.

"Solar cells only work when the sun is shining," said study co-author Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford. "When there's no sunlight, utilities often have to rely on electricity from conventional power plants that run on coal or natural gas."

A greener solution, Dai explained, is to supplement the solar cells with hydrogen-powered fuel cells that generate electricity at night or when demand is especially high.

To produce clean hydrogen for fuel cells, scientists have turned to an emerging technology called water splitting: Two semiconducting electrodes are connected and placed in water. The electrodes absorb light and use the energy to split the water into its basic components, oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere, and the hydrogen is stored as fuel.

When energy is needed, the process is reversed: The stored hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen are combined in a fuel cell to generate electricity and pure water.

The entire process is sustainable and emits no greenhouse gases. But finding a cheap way to split water has been a major challenge. Today, researchers continue searching for inexpensive materials that can be used to build water splitters efficient enough to be of practical use.

Silicon solution

"Silicon, which is widely used in solar cells, would be an ideal, low-cost material," said Stanford graduate student Michael J. Kenney, co-lead author of the Science study. "But silicon degrades in contact with an electrolyte solution. In fact, a submerged electrode made of silicon corrodes as soon as the water-splitting reaction starts."

In 2011, another Stanford research team addressed this challenge by coating silicon electrodes with ultrathin layers of titanium dioxide and iridium. That experimental water splitter produced hydrogen and oxygen for eight hours without corroding.

"Those were inspiring results, but for practical water splitting, longer-term stability is needed," Dai said. "Also, the precious metal iridium is costly. A non-precious metal catalyst would be desirable."

To find a low-cost alternative, Dai suggested that Kenney and his colleagues try coating silicon electrodes with ordinary nickel. "Nickel is corrosion resistant," Kenney said. "It's also an active oxygen-producing catalyst, and it's earth abundant. That makes it very attractive for this type of application."

Nickel nanofilm

For the experiment, the Dai team applied a 2-nanometer-thick layer of nickel onto a silicon electrode, paired it with another electrode and placed both in a solution of water and potassium borate. When light and electricity were applied, the electrodes began splitting the water into oxygen and hydrogen, a process that continued for about 24 hours with no sign of corrosion.

To improve performance, the researchers mixed lithium into the water-based solution. "Remarkably, adding lithium imparted superior stability to the electrodes," Kenney said. "They generated hydrogen and oxygen continuously for 80 hours more than three days with no sign of surface corrosion."

These results represent a significant advance over previous experimental efforts, added Dai . "Our lab has produced one of the longest lasting silicon-based photoanodes," he said. "The results suggest that an ultrathin nickel coating not only suppresses corrosion but also serves as an electrocatalyst to expedite the otherwise sluggish water-splitting reaction.

"Interestingly, a lithium addition to electrolytes has been used to make better nickel batteries since the Thomas Edison days. Many years later we are excited to find that it also helps to make better water-splitting devices"

The scientists plan to do additional work on improving the stability and durability of nickel-treated electrodes of silicon as well as other materials.

###

Other authors of the study are Ming Gong and Yanguang Li (co-lead authors), Justin Z. Wu, Ju Feng and Mario Lanza of Stanford.

Support was provided by the Precourt Institute for Energy and the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford; and the National Science Foundation.

This article was written by Mark Shwartz, Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University.

Related information:

Dai Laboratory
http://dailab.stanford.edu/

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Stanford scientists create a low-cost, long-lasting water splitter made of silicon and nickel

Stanford University scientists have created a silicon-based water splitter that is both low-cost and corrosion-free. The novel device a silicon semiconductor coated in an ultrathin layer of nickel could help pave the way for large-scale production of clean hydrogen fuel from sunlight, according to the scientists. Their results are published in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Science.

"Solar cells only work when the sun is shining," said study co-author Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford. "When there's no sunlight, utilities often have to rely on electricity from conventional power plants that run on coal or natural gas."

A greener solution, Dai explained, is to supplement the solar cells with hydrogen-powered fuel cells that generate electricity at night or when demand is especially high.

To produce clean hydrogen for fuel cells, scientists have turned to an emerging technology called water splitting: Two semiconducting electrodes are connected and placed in water. The electrodes absorb light and use the energy to split the water into its basic components, oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere, and the hydrogen is stored as fuel.

When energy is needed, the process is reversed: The stored hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen are combined in a fuel cell to generate electricity and pure water.

The entire process is sustainable and emits no greenhouse gases. But finding a cheap way to split water has been a major challenge. Today, researchers continue searching for inexpensive materials that can be used to build water splitters efficient enough to be of practical use.

Silicon solution

"Silicon, which is widely used in solar cells, would be an ideal, low-cost material," said Stanford graduate student Michael J. Kenney, co-lead author of the Science study. "But silicon degrades in contact with an electrolyte solution. In fact, a submerged electrode made of silicon corrodes as soon as the water-splitting reaction starts."

In 2011, another Stanford research team addressed this challenge by coating silicon electrodes with ultrathin layers of titanium dioxide and iridium. That experimental water splitter produced hydrogen and oxygen for eight hours without corroding.

"Those were inspiring results, but for practical water splitting, longer-term stability is needed," Dai said. "Also, the precious metal iridium is costly. A non-precious metal catalyst would be desirable."

To find a low-cost alternative, Dai suggested that Kenney and his colleagues try coating silicon electrodes with ordinary nickel. "Nickel is corrosion resistant," Kenney said. "It's also an active oxygen-producing catalyst, and it's earth abundant. That makes it very attractive for this type of application."

Nickel nanofilm

For the experiment, the Dai team applied a 2-nanometer-thick layer of nickel onto a silicon electrode, paired it with another electrode and placed both in a solution of water and potassium borate. When light and electricity were applied, the electrodes began splitting the water into oxygen and hydrogen, a process that continued for about 24 hours with no sign of corrosion.

To improve performance, the researchers mixed lithium into the water-based solution. "Remarkably, adding lithium imparted superior stability to the electrodes," Kenney said. "They generated hydrogen and oxygen continuously for 80 hours more than three days with no sign of surface corrosion."

These results represent a significant advance over previous experimental efforts, added Dai . "Our lab has produced one of the longest lasting silicon-based photoanodes," he said. "The results suggest that an ultrathin nickel coating not only suppresses corrosion but also serves as an electrocatalyst to expedite the otherwise sluggish water-splitting reaction.

"Interestingly, a lithium addition to electrolytes has been used to make better nickel batteries since the Thomas Edison days. Many years later we are excited to find that it also helps to make better water-splitting devices"

The scientists plan to do additional work on improving the stability and durability of nickel-treated electrodes of silicon as well as other materials.

###

Other authors of the study are Ming Gong and Yanguang Li (co-lead authors), Justin Z. Wu, Ju Feng and Mario Lanza of Stanford.

Support was provided by the Precourt Institute for Energy and the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford; and the National Science Foundation.

This article was written by Mark Shwartz, Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University.

Related information:

Dai Laboratory
http://dailab.stanford.edu/

[
| E-mail
Share
]

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.